“To my knowledge, this is the first study of the airport´s emergency preparedness,” said Ram Prasad Neupane, director general of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.[break]
The US Embassy in Kathmandu and USAID took the initiative for the 10-day study that will start Monday, said Neupane.
The study will involve assessment of the airport´s capacity to withstand a major shock and also its ability to handle relief operations during such emergency.
According to Punya Raj Shakya, director of TIA Improvement Project, the American experts will mainly seek to know how much shock the airport infrastructure, including the runway, can absorb and what types of relief operation aircrafts can land on the runway, assuming it remains intact, in the event of a major emergency.
“In 10 days beginning Monday, the experts will be drilling nearly 32 borings measuring 30 meters deep near the airport area to collect samples for soil content analysis,” he said.
“Based on the analysis, computerized seismic impact simulation will be conducted in US labs for a range of possible shocks with epicenters located variously across the country. The simulation results will be made available to us for taking preparedness measures,” he added.
The study has been funded by the US Army through USAID, Shakya further said.
Apart from conducting the study, the team will also train CAAN´s civil engineers, Nepal Army engineers, and selected students from several engineering colleges of the country to equip them with techniques for analyzing airport pavement strength and maintaining the pavement, apart from preparing for a major quake emergency.
According to the National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET), the country has a high risk of earthquake occurrence. Based on past records, the country can expect two earthquakes of magnitude 7.5 to 8 on the Richter scale every 40 years, and one earthquake of magnitude 8+ on the Richter scale every eighty years.
By that calculation, a quake measuring over 8 on the Richter scale is due by 2014 as the last 8+ quake hit Nepal in 1934. It measured 8.3 on the Richter scale.
The most recent major quake struck the country on September 18 last year. The 6.9 magnitude quake had Sikkim as its epicenter, which explained the relatively low devastation in the country. In the months following that quake, the country has seen an inrease in seismic activity, especially in the hilly districts in eastern Nepal.
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